Game of Apocalypse
by Shiro Amayagi
Summary: A wandering Venus Adept meets a man who really should be dead. Two years after The Lost Age


The man in the brown robe walked down the packed-dirt path, quietly. He knew only that he was being followed, perhaps for the past four miles. Who was behind him, and for what reason, he remained unaware. He puzzled on the thought of looking back a few times in the duration of his walk, but decided against it. Anyone who would follow him unannounced for any more than a few minutes definitely couldn't have been one of his friends.

He withdrew his hands into his robe and pulled it tight. He listened, and heard no extra movements out of his stalker. Seeing an opportunity, he focused his psynergy into his hands and visualized a broadsword, complete with a sacred psynergetic gem. That was it - his treasure. The Sol Blade. A familiar warmth gripped his hand, and a calm smile showed itself among his worn, gritty features.

He fell back for little more than a second, and then lunged forward. In midair, he thrust his hand toward the ground, using the weight of his body to spin around, after which he thrust himself at his assailant. He released the psynergy from his hand to form the Sol Blade, and thrust it just above the stalker's head, expertly slicing the hood in two. His eyes met Alex's irritated gaze, and his resolve faltered. The blade took over for him, and all he could manage out was, "Megiddo!"

Within a flash, the blue-haired man had unsheathed a long katana. He replied, "Asura."

The force pushed Alex back a few feet, but the robed man, being airborne, fell back much further. Alex grinned evilly, and said, "Getting a little sloppy, aren't we, Felix?"

"What the hell?", Felix replied. "Aren't you supposed to be busy being dead?"

Alex started to offer up a look of mock confusion, but soon abandoned it in favor of his trademark smirk. "Dead, my boy? Heavens no...a mountain couldn't kill me. Neither - and you'll like this - could a fall from a lighthouse."

"Fall from a-"

At this moment, rage flared up in his eyes. The young Venus Adept tackled Alex to the ground and held him there tightly. "What do you know? Where are they!"

Alex saw that he had Felix's full attention, and proceeded to work his magic. "I can take you to them."

"You tell me where they are!"

His eyes filled with hate, and his judgment fell to the wayside. He attempted to punch Alex, an attempt which put him in direct contact with Alex's still-readied blade. Felix growled in pain and threw himself backwards, so that he could cast Cure on his bloodied hand. The wound closed itself much slower than Felix was comfortable with, but he forced the thought out of his mind and re-formed the Sol Blade.

He lunged toward Alex, blade first. The blue-haired Adept rose to his feet unconcernedly, and parried Felix's strike with no more than a flick of the wrist. The katana unleashed again, and Felix fell to the ground a fair thirty feet away.

"Come now, Felix, you're not concentrating! I've fought stronger moles!", Alex shouted.

Felix's eyes narrowed, and he prepared to lunge again, but stopped himself short. He _wasn't_ concentrating. His muscles tensed, and he took stock of the situation. He was facing a man who was supposed to be dead, his psynergy wasn't doing it's job, and the way he handled his Capoeira style was embarrassing. He outstretched the arm which was holding the Sol Blade, and pointed it to the left of himself. He smiled confidently, and willed the sword to dissipate back into his mind.

He raised his hands to the middle of his chest, and tightly clenched them into fists. His movements flowed like water as he rhythmically raised one foot after the other. Without warning, he thrust his upper body backwards, and fell back into a handstand position, but wasted no time going into a rapid sequence of cartwheels. As he closed the gap, he could see that Alex was preparing to swing. Lightning-quick, Felix planted his hands firmly on the ground and caught the flat sides of the blade with his feet.

Without pausing, he pushed his feet further in the direction they had gone, which forced the blade from Alex's hands. To finish his assault, he lifted one hand off the ground, pivoted full-circle on his other hand, and landed his feet powerfully on Alex's unguarded abdomen, sending the unsuspecting Adept at least twenty feet away.

Felix grabbed the katana off the ground, and walked calmly over to Alex. He looked down at the prostrate Mercury Adept and grinned, then thrust the blade into the ground no more than an inch from Alex's neck. His grin quickly replaced itself with an infuriated scowl.

"I'll say it one more time, in case you weren't paying attention. Where are Saturos and Menardi?"

Alex coughed a bit of blood, which had nowhere to land but his lip. He licked it off, and showed Felix an oddly satisfied smile. "This round was a test. Congratulations, you passed."

Felix glared at him angrily, and kicked him in the side. "Don't change the subject! Where are they!"

"I said it once. I'll take you to them...eventually. Just keep your guard up until then." A blue light swallowed up the Mercury Adept, and he was gone.

"Teleport...damn it!", he shouted. He swore, and kicked at the ground, stirring up dirt and misplacing some smaller pebbles. After a few seconds of irritation, he turned around, back towards Vale.

"I suppose I had better warn the others."


End file.
